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FREE THOUGHT 



OR THE 



COMING DISPENSATIOiN 




PUBI^ISHED BY THE: AUTHOR, 

4153 Ridge Avenue, Fai^i^s of Schuyi,kii,i„ 

PHII,ADEI.PHIA, PA. 
1900. 

L 



77B17 



JLibr«ry of Coopreas 

Two Copies Receivfo 
NOV 19 1900 

to|.wngnt tjntry 

SEr.ONi) COPY 

OcHnTed to 

ORDttt DIVISION 

NOV 24 19UU 



BUnis 



COPYKlGHTeD BY 

R. BEWIvBY, M. D. 

1900. 

(Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England.) 



CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Introduction. 

Essay No. I. Man. 3 

Essay No. II. Knowledge. 6 

Essay No. III. Ignorance. 9 

Essay No. IV. GOD the Creator. 12 

Essay No. V. The Bible. 17 

Essay No. VI. Creation and Fall of Man. 20 

Essay No. VII. Redemption. 26 

Essay No. VIII. The Ufe of JESUS. 29 

Essay No. IX. Christian Teachings and 

Their Results. 36 

Essay No. X. Miracles, Magic & Science. 41 
Essay No. XI. Divine Government — 

Rewards and Punishments — 

Special Providence — Prayer. 51 

Essay No. XII. Matter and Spirit. 61 

Essay No. XIII. Spirit Control- 
Inspiration. 71 

Essay No. XIV. Modern Spiritualism. 78 



Essay N o#XV| The Coming Dispensation 99 



Free Thought or the 

Coming Dispensation. 



INTRODUCTION 

The following essays are part of the 
results of many years thought, study and 
observation on the part of the writer. He 
does not claim that any of the ideas are 
new, or that they have not been more el- 
egantly expressed by others; but his 
hope is that by stating certain facts in 
logical order, in plain, unmistakable 
terms, some of his fellow creatures may 
be enabled to pick up grains of knowl- 
edge and truth, and digest and assimi- 
late them, and so develop their mental 
and spiritual growth. 

Have you ever watched a pigeon feed- 



ing her young? The young birds, when 
they hear their parents coming, turn up 
their heads and open their mouths to the 
greatest extent, then the old bird puts 
her beak into the young dtie^s throat and 
discharges the partially digested con- 
tents dl her craw into the young bird's 
throat. The young birds grow; but they 
soon leave the nest and pick up food and 
digest and assimilate it for themselves. 

If a Hygienic Enthusiast was to arise 
and teach that the only way for the pre- 
sent generation of men to attain perfect 
development was to live on food which 
had been masticated and pcirtially digest- 
ed by the proceeding generation, it is 
probable that that Enthusiast would have 
but few followers. And yet, this 
is j'Ust what is practiced in mental and 
spiritual matter's. We are expected to 
live, spiritually, on ideas which were pre- 
digested by ignorant, or interested m^n 
ages ago. Wake up! Be MEN, and think 
for yourselves. You have been ''squabs^^ 
long enough. 



ESSAY Mo, I, MAN, 



In these essays Man will be considered 
as a dual being, consisting of body and 
soul, or spirit Some thinkers make a 
distinction between soul and spirit; but 
in these essays the terms will be used 
interchangeably. As a general definition 
of the spirit of man, it may be said to be 
that which makes the difference between 
a living man and a corpse. Scientific 
men have determined, with a great deal 
of accuracy, what the body consists of; 
So many parts of earthly matter, carbon 
and water. They trace the growth of the 
body through the development of cells, 
and describe other wonders relating to 
the growth of the material part of man; 
but as to the everlasting soul they seem 
to know nothing and care less. It is said 
that Prof, Tyndall likened the invisible 
part of man to the light-giving flame of 
a candle,— ''Blow the candle out, and 



where is the flame?'' This phase of 
thought will be referred to later on in 
these essays. All denominations of 
Christians and many other Religionists 
profess to believe in a continued life for 
the soul, or spirit, after it has left the 
body. Some miserable specimens believe 
that the spirits of the departed remain 
shivering over the graves of their bodies, 
waiting for the last trump to sound, 
when they will re-enter their bodies and 
pass on to Heaven — or else be dammed 
The wild Indian, more cheerfully, ex- 
pects to meet his faithful dog in the hap- 
py hunting ground and have a good 
time. People profess to believe in a spir- 
itual life; but with the bulk of them it is 
merely a profession — they have no ra- 
tional belief in the matter at all — they 
have never thought of it, and if you ask 
them about it they will merely eject some 
undigested morsel of doctrine that has 
been chewed from one generation to an- 
other. If they had any vital belief in a 
responsible life in the world to come they 



would regulate their actions differently 
while in the body. 



ESSAY No. II, KNOWLEDGE. 



While the soul, or spirit, is in the body 
the only means it has of acquiring 
knowledge is by the exercise of the five 
senses — seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting 
and smelling. By means of these senses 
we can also gain advantage of the knowl- 
edge and experience of others by reading 
their writings, hearing them speak, and 
seeing their work. The knowledge thus 
acquired is of as much, or more, impor- 
tance as that acquired by our own en- 
deavors, as it would be impossible for 
each individual to find out all that is 
known about any given subject by his 
owm researches — life is too short — even 
supposing he had the capacity. 

When facts, or apparent facts, accu- 
mulate they are ranged into Sciences and 
by the reasoning faculties Theories are 
constructed to harmonize the facts, and 
sometimes the theories lead to the dis- 



covery of new facts. But the senses are 
not absolutely reliable — things are fre- 
quently very different from what they 
appear to be — and the bulk of knowl- 
edge gained through them is only com- 
paratively true. New facts are observed 
which are incompatible with the old the- 
ories, and the theories have to be remod- 
eled. 

The only absolutely positive and un- 
changeable knowledge that Man pos- 
sesses, is Mathematical knowledge. Two 
and two make four — and we cannot im- 
agine any process by which the sum of 
two and two' co-uld be made either great- 
er or less than four. A straight line is 
the shortest distance between two points 
— no one can imagine a shorter distance 
between those points. Again/the square 
of the hypothenuse of a right-angled tri- 
angle is equal to the sum of the squares 
of the base and perpendicular of the tri- 
angle. This proposition (the 47th of the 
1st Book of Euclid's Elements of Plane 
Geometry) is not self-evident ; but if you 



8 



commence at the beginning and follow 
the demonstrations of the preceeding 
forty-six propositions, the absolute truth 
of this one will be made clear. In other 
branches of knowledge it is not so — 
there is nothing absolute — all is compar- 
ative. Thus, there is nothing so large or 
so small but what there may be larger or 
smaller — nothing so cold or so hot but 
there might be colder or hotter and so . 
on. 

The unreliability of the senses is well 
illustrated by the rising and setting of 
the sun. A few centuries ago any ''he- 
retic'' who vent'Ured to say that the rising 
and setting of the sun was only apparent 
and was caused by the rotation of the 
earth upon its axis, would be condemned 
to torture and the stake. Truth and rea- 
son have prevailed, and at the present 
time there are very few civilized people 
who doubt that the earth revolves, al- 
though we cannot feel the motion of the 
earth, and our eyes see the rising and setr 
ting of the sun! 



ESSAY No. Ill, IGNORANCE. 



Ignorance may be divided into three 
degrees, or classes. First. Complete ab- 
S'^ense of knowledge, as in babyhood — 
the state in which we all commence this 
life. Second. A sHght amount of knowl- 
edge, gained by experience and ac- 
companied by a disposition to be- 
lieve whatever their teachers tell 
them; but there is no desire to 
think, or investigate matters for them- 
selves. This is the state of the bulk of 
mankind. It is possible to instruct this 
class although they are slow to learn — 
they are inclined to limit the possibilities 
of things to the narrowness of their 
own small experience. If they are told 
anything that is new, or wonderful, to 
them, they are inclined to doubt it be- 
cause they have never heard of such a 
thing. If the matter is so well attested 
that they cannot deny it, they conclude it 



lO 



rn-ust be ''miraculous." This class have a 
good deal of conceit and they don't like 
to admit that they don't know every- 
thing, and so they tell Hes to cover their 
ignorance, neither thinking of, nor car- 
ing for, the evil that will result from 
those lies. The following well-worn an- 
ecdote will illustrate this phase of ig- 
norance. A child, one night, asked his 
father what the moon was made of? The 
father, instead of telling him that he did 
not know — or telling him that he must 
wait until he was old enough to under- 
stand such things — told him that the 
moon was made of green cheese. The 
child believed it for a time; but when he 
grew older he found out that his father 
had deceived him, and from that time 
forth he had no respect for, or confidence 
in, his father. 

In the third class we have those who 
have acquired a great deal of knowledge; 
but their conceit has increased in a still 
greater ratio — they know it all and it is 
impossible tO' learn more. A great many 



II 



Scientific Men, Preachers and Teachers 
belong to this class. 



12 



ESSAY No. IV, 
GOD THE CREATOR. 

''No man saw God at any time." 
"Ye cannot see God and live.'' 
'The fool hath said in his heart, 
There is no God." 

It ought to be a self-evident truth that 
no man, or number of men, can com- 
prehend the Creator, for the simple rea- 
son that a finite creature cannot compre- 
hend the Infinite. It would be easier to 
pack the ocean into a teaspoon than for 
man to comprehend the Creator. It is 
simply an impossibility and man will 
never accomplish it. But there is no ob- 
jection to our trying to learn as miuch 
about Him as we can, and this is only to 
be done by studying His works — the 
works of Nature — always remembering 
that we are liable to error and never can 
attain perfection. The "fools" who say 
"there is no God" are in a pitiable state 
of ignorance and darkness; but it is 
doubtful whether they are worse off than 



13 



our teachers and preachers who, with an 
equal amount of ignorance, have the 
added conceit to think they know all 
about His thoughts, intentions and ac- 
tions. They can tell you what will please 
Him and w^hat will vex Him — and what 
will happen to you if you don't believe 
all the blasphemous nonsense they give 
you in the name of religion. 

If you try to follow and understand the 
researches and discoveries of the Astron- 
omer yo-u will be lost in wonder at the in- 
finite magnitude of creation — at the un- 
countable number of suns and systems 
floating about in space, and the unimag- 
inable distances between them. Such 
studies ought to bring home to each in- 
dividual that he forms a very small part 
of creation. Again, let him study the rev- 
elations made by the microscope and he 
will see minute organisms, which for ex- 
cellence of workmanship and adaptedness 
to their circumstances, are as perfect as 
himself. Surely the existence of all these 
wonderful works must necessitate the 



H 



existence of a Creator. If you examine 
a colony of mites in a cheese, through a 
microscope, you will see a busy scene — 
innumerable living creatures, each well 
formed as to body, limbs, etc., and hav- 
ing the power of being fruitful and mul- 
tiplying, all struggling and trampling on 
each other, just as other inhabitants of 
this world do, to promote their own in- 
terests. Now, is it probable that these 
mites can have any knowledge of the size 
or shape of the cheese which they inhab- 
it? — or of the nature and size of the cow 
that yielded the milk from which the 
cheese was made? — or of the Dairy-maid 
who' made the cheese? — or of the Farmer 
v/ho hired the dairy-maid? Yet it is prob- 
able that the mite is as capable of deter- 
mining the proportions, desires and in- 
tentions of the farmer as finite man is 
of comprehending the designs and in- 
tentions of the Creator. We are quite 
unable to describe Him, and the best at- 
tempt we can make is to attribute all the 
good qualities we can conceive of and 



15 



then humbly acknowledge that our de- 
scription falls infinitely short of the orig- 
inal. Thus we may say that He is Al- 
mighty,All-knowing,Present everywhere, 
All-wise. Perfectly just and All-loving. 
This is about the highest ideal we can 
form. Now, as He is perfect, there can 
be nothing useless about Him, is it not 
fair to conclude that He has no feet, for 
if He is omnipresent — filling all space — 
He would have no room to walk about in 
and feet would be of no use. For tht 
same reason He would have no use for 
hands, arms, stom.ach and digestive tract, 
or any of the organs and tissues that go 
to make up the body of man. But there 
would remain Infinite Intelligence, 
Power, Wisdom, Justice and Love ! Such 
a Being would be more worthy of our 
worship and veneration than the blund- 
ering, passionate, jealous, cursing crea- 
ture which Moses fashioned after his 
own image to frighten his followers, and 
succeeding generations with. It appears 
to the present writer that Moses, al- 



i6 



though acquainted with the learning of 
the Egyptians, was a great example of ig- 
norance of the second and third grades 
— he ''knew all" about the Most High, 
and supplied his followers with an im- 
mense quantity of ''green cheese" which 
has disordered the mental digestion oi 
the people to the present day. But the 
race of man is growing older and find- 
[n-y^ out that the moon is not made of 
<^recn cheese.. • 



17 



ESSAY No, V, THE BIBLE. 



The Bible is a wonderful book in many 
respects — it contains many valuable 
truths — shows a deep knowledge of hu- 
man nature- — and is a storehouse from 
which quotations applicable to a great 
number of subjects can be made; but as 
a history it is no longer regarded as true 
by any person of education who is at 
liberty to use his intellectual faculties. 

The power the Bible has over a large 
portion of the civilized portion of man- 
kind is wonderful. It is admitted, even 
by its worshippers, that it contains a 
great number of errors; but that is of no 
importance — it is the ''Word of God''— 
and absolutely Divine — errors and all! 
This blind worship of a mere book, 
which is obviously full of errors, is ihe 
greatest example of hypnotism on rec- 
ord. By continual ''suggestion'' or rath- 
er "assertion" our teachers and preach- 



i8 



ers have compelled generation after gen- 
eration to profess to believe, that belief 
in the divinity of its contents is absolute- 
ly necessary to insure salvation. 

In ancient times scientific and other 
truths were veiled in mystical or figura- 
tive language, and learned men have 
traced the origin of the biblical history 
of the "Creation" and "Fall" to older 
systems of religion. Some Geologists ex- 
plain that the six-days creation refers to 
six geological periods, each of which 
may consist of thousands, or millions of 
years — but this is of no 4ise. If definite 
statements are to be explained away by 
saying they mean something else, it re- 
duces the whole matter to the value of 
the Irishman's argument, or proof that 
there can be no such color as black be- 
cause "black's white and white's no color 
at all." It is the literal meaning of the 
words, which has ca^used so much mental 
misery, madness, murder, war, persecu- 
tion and crime of every kind — that o:\r 
teachers, priests and parsons cram down 



19 



the throats of the people in order to keep 
them in. darkness and subjugation. Now, 
it may be asked, if the Bible and its ef- 
fects are so bad, why does the good and. 
loving Father of all permit it to exist? 
The same question may be asked with 
reference to venomous reptiles, ''kissing 
bugs,'' germs of disease, etc., etc. A par- 
tial answer to these questions, it is hoped, 
will be found in future essays. 

"The letter killeth; but the Spirit giv- 
eth life." The object of the writer is to 
do what little he can towards stopping 
the killing process of the letter, trusting 
that the Spirit will scatter life and light 
abroad. 



20 



ESSAY No. VI, 

CREATION, and the "FALL." 

It is not the writer's intention to point 
out all the inconsistencies contained in 
the Bible; but he will try to confine him- 
self to those errors which have most in- 
fluence on the state of the world at the 
present time. 

In the first chapter of Genesis an ac- 
count of the Creation is given which may 
be summed up thus: In the first day 
Light and Darkness were made. In the 
second day the Firmament was made. In 
the third day, dry land, grass, herbs and 
fruit trees were made, and the day's work 
declared to be good. In the fourth day the 
Sun and Moon and ''Stars also'' were 
miade — Good. In the fifth day fowls and 
fish, each to bring forth after his kind, 
good. In the sixth day cattle, creeping 
things and also Man after His image — 
male and female created He them — 
Good. 



21 



Creation, being finished, the Lord rest- 
ed on the seventh day, and afterwards 
whatever was wanted was ''made" out of 
materials already created. In Chap. 11. 
we are told that the Lord determined to 
make man in His own image (had He 
forgotten that he had already done so — 
male and female — on the sixth day?) so 
he set to work and made a man out of 
dust and breathed into him the breath of 
life. It occurred to the Lord that the 
man might be lonesome, so He deter- 
mined to make a wife for him. Instead 
of making her out of dust He made her 
ccit of a rib taken from the side of the 
man. The man was called Adam and 
the woman was called Eve, and it is from 
this pair, we are told, the whole human 
race is descended. The Lord planted a 
garden and gave Adam and Eve permis- 
sion to do what they liked with every- 
thing in it with the exception of the tree 
of knowledge and the tree of life, the 
fruit of which trees they were not to oat. 
He told them that if they eat of that 



22 



fruit ''on that day'' they would "surely 
die." Now, if the Lord was prescient 
and knew all things, He must have 
known, right well, that the couple would 
go for the forbidden fruit without delay 
— and probably He intended them to do 
so for if they had remained in their baby- 
like state of innocence they would have 
been of no use. The record says the 
Devil came along and tempted Eve, tell- 
ing her to eat of the fruit of the tree of 
knowledge and that she would not die. 
She persuaded Adam and they both eat 
of the forbidden fruit and they did not 
die. So the Devil told the truth and the 
Lord told a lie. When the Lord found 
out that His commands had been dis- 
obeyed He got into a rage, cursed His 
own work — ^which he had previously pro- 
nounced to be good — and compelled the 
Devil to crawl on his belly instead of us- 
ing his previous mode of locomotion. 
He, the Almighty, must have felt, fear, 
for He turned Adam and Eve out of the 
garden and put an angel armed with a 



23 



flaming sword to guard the entrance to 
prevent their return ''lest'' they should 
eat of the fruit of the tree of life and be- 
come equal to Us. Now, what does this 
plural "Us" mean? Is it like the editor- 
ial "We" or is it an admission that there 
were other Gods beside Himself? Wfe 
may infer that he was not alone. He 
must have had a wife, or at any rate a 
female companion, for we are told, fur- 
ther on, that His sons were struck with 
the beauty of the daughters of men and 
took liberties with them. Notwithstand- 
ing His displeasure the Lord had com- 
passion for Adam and Eve, for before 
turning them out of the garden He must 
have thought that the fig-leaf garments 
would not be sufficient protection for 
them, so He made suits ^ of clothes out 
of animal's skins for them to face the 
hardships of the world in. He repented 
that He had made man. 

Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain 
and Abel. Cain was gardener and Abel 
was a hunter. Cain made an offering of 



24 



vegetables and fruit to the Lord, and 
Abel made an offering of meat. The 
Lord preferred the meat to the vegeta- 
bles, which caused jealousy between the 
brothers and Cain murdered Abel — and 
then came more cursing. After Abel 
was murdered Adam had another son 
whom he called Seth. He must have 
had a number of daughters also, al- 
though it is not mentioned, or the race 
wo-uld soon have become extinct. It 
seems to the present writer that the 
mode of creation of the human race 
mentioned in the sixth day's work would 
be more respectable, moral and healthy 
than the rib-plan, supposing that the 
plural "them" (male and female created 
He them) indicated a considerable plur- 
ality of both male and female specimens. 
The churches affirm that the whole race 
is descended from Adam and Eve. In 
this case the world must have been popu- 
lated by generation after generation of 
incest. 

Now who, having the free use of his 



senses, can respect this passionate, 
jealous, cursing, lying,, frightened, 
regretful creature that Moses de- 
scribes as God? Surely, if instead of say- 
ing that God had created man in His 
own image, he had said that he, Moses, 
had described the Almighty after his, 
Moses' own pattern, he would have been 
nearer to the truth. Moses, although a 
learned man, must have had a great deal 
of ignorance of the third class — he 
thougla he know it all. 



26 



ESSAY No VII, REDEMPTION. 



At the present time no man of intel- 
ligence and education believes the ac- 
count of the ''fall" of man, as given in 
Genesis, to be historically true. Then, 
it follows that if we didn't fall there is no 
necessity to be "redeemed" by a ''bloody 
sacrifice." Peter and his brethren were 
ignorant men and had no higher idea of 
the sublimity of the Almighty than Mo- 
ses had. In plain English the "plan of 
salvation," as handed down to us is this: 
The only way the Almighty could de- 
vise, having been outwitted and over- 
reached by His own creatures, and hav- 
ing had his patience sorely tried by the 
disobedience and wickedness of His 
chosen people, for weary ages, to sooth 
his ruffled feelings and remove His curse 
from the human race, was to humbug 
Himself by offering Himself as a sacri- 



27 



fice to Himself. In order to carry out 
this idea He had to break His own laws, 
and commit fornication with the affianc- 
ed wife of a carpenter, and be born in the 
form of a man. And this is the sort of 
stufif we are taught to beHeve under pen- 
alty of everlasting damnation, should we 
have any doubt about it! In due time 
the Almighty was born of the Virgin 
Mary in the form of a man, who was 
called Jesus. The whole arrangement is 
repulsive to the advanced minds of the 
present day, and surely must be a slander 
on the Almighty. And yet, it will be 
said, Christianity must have had a foun- 
dation — a beginning. But even at the 
very beginning opinions differed — Peter 
and Paul could not agree, and Paul ac- 
cused Peter of preaching a Jesus he 
knew not of. 

Such terms as Christ, Son of God, 
Cross, Resurrection, etc., have been de- 
termined by Students of Antiquity, to be 
mystical terms relating to Astronomical 
and other religions which were m^uch 



28 



older than the time of Peter — or of Mo- 
ses. Peter may have picked up frag- 
ments of these matters and in his con- 
ceited i,gnorance patched them up into a 
human history. Paul, being a more learn- 
ed man, could not agree with Peter. 

The Greeks, whom we call heathens 
and idolators, had a number of altars in 
their temple dedicated to various Gods; 
but they felt there was still something 
more to be worshipped than art could 
express, so they erected an altar in their 
temple and dedicated it to the Unknown 
God. They did not claim to know it all, 
and in this were wiser than the Jews or 
Christians. 



29 



ESSAY No. VIII, 
THE LIFE OE JESUS. 

There being no necessity for a ''Re- 
deemer" to save mankind from the ef- 
fects of a fall that did not take place, 
and as profane history makes no mention 
of Jesus and his works, a great many 
persons are led to think that no such 
person ever existed; but as in all great 
crises and revolutions a great man rises 
up as a leader, we will assume that a 
great Teacher and wonder-worker did 
walk the earth somewhere about the 
time in which Jesus is said to have lived. 

It is well known that the Gospels were 
not written until long after the events re- 
corded in them were said to have oc- 
curred. We all know how a story grows 
by being handed about from one person 
to another and this, together with the fig- 
urative style of Eastern people, and also 
takin,g their ignorance into account, will 
make it evident that there was nothing 



30 



transcending the powers of man in the 
hfe of Jesus. It does not appear that He 
claimed to be the Son of God any more 
than all of us may, as being the children 
of our Heavenly Father. Perhaps He 
may have had exceptionally high opinion 
of Himself, if His mother brought H^im 
up to believe in the immaculate concep- 
tion, in order to maintain her own repu- 
tation. To proceed: 

Jesus was born in a stable in Bethle- 
hem, whither His mother and Joseph 
had come to pay tribute, or taxes. He 
appears to have been knocked about 
from place to place a good deal in order 
to fulfil various prophesies, which prob- 
ably had nothing to do with Him. 

We are next told that when Jesus was 
about twelve years old His mother and 
Joseph brought Him up to Jerusalem to 
attend the feast of the Passover. He gave 
them the slip, and they started on 
their homeward jo-urney without Him. 
When they missed Him they returned to 
Jerusalem to seek Him, and they found 



31 



Him in the Temple arguing in a very 
precocious manner with the priests. He 
returned home with Joseph and Mary 
and was subject to them, being "as was 
supposed the son of Joseph and Mary" 
— A supposition that was most hkel}/ 
correct. 

It was promised to David that the 
kingdom should never be taken from his 
house. Nothwithstanding the dispersion 
and bondage of the Jews and the absorp- 
tion of the kingdom by the Romans, it 
is sought to show that Jesus was the 
legitimate descendent of David, and 
King of the Jews. A long genealogy is 
given from David to Joseph the carpen- 
ter; but what this has to do with the 
matter is difficult to see, as it is distinct- 
ly stated that Joseph had nothing to do 
with the parentage of Jesus. In St. 
Luke's Gospel a genealogy is given 
from Joseph backward to David and 
from David to Adam. This genealogy 
differs a good deal from the one given 
by St. Matthew; but that is a triflie of no 



32 



importance. -_ . . __ 

The Gospels give us no further partic- 
ulars of the Hfe of Jesus until he was 
about thirty years old, when he came out 
in public as a teacher, healer and won- 
der-worker. Jesus appears to have led 
a good, moral life — it is a great pity his 
followers at the present day do not more 
generally follow his example in this re- 
spect. He did not get married — it would 
not do for all men to follow his example 
in this, although a great many might do 
so with great advantage to the world. 
He went about heahng the sick and per- 
forming wonders. His teachings brought 
upon Him the enmity of the Jews, who 
sought to entrap Him in the meshes of 
the law. In one case He showed wisdom 
equal, if not greater, than the wisdom of 
Solomon. The Jews brought a woman, 
who had been caught in the act of adul- 
tery, to Him to pass judgment on, hop- 
ing He would say something contrary to 
the law; but He quoted the law and said 
she should be stoned — with the proviso 



33 



that "he that was without sin should cast 
the first stone." The men were all self- 
condemned by their consciences and 
slunk away, and the woman's life was 
spared. This was very clever and com- 
pletely ''took the wind out of the sails" 
of His adversaries; but the principle 
would not admit of general application, 
for where would you find Policemen, Sol- 
diers, Lawyers, Magistrates, Judges or 
Kings so free from sin as to be fit to pro- 
nounce judgment on criminals? — Punish- 
ment would be impossible, and the fear 
of it being removed crime of all kinds 
would run riot without fear of the con- 
sequences. 

The miracle of casting out the devils 
into the swine did not show much wis- 
dom or divinity, or He would have 
known that it would be of no <use, as to 
confining the devils as they would be 
loose again as soon as the pigs were 
dead, and certainly the owner of the 
swine had just cause for complaint. He 
was advised to go away, and he went. 



34 



He did not show much wisdom, or divin- 
ity, when he cursed the fig-tree for not 
bearing fruit out of season. Even His 
disciples reproved Him for that. Nor 
did He show much Almighty power m 
not being able to do mighty works in 
the neighborhood where He was known 
"because of their unbelief.'' He went in- 
to the Synagogue and conducted Him- 
self in a manner that would not be per- 
mitted in any church in the present day, 
and thereby he increased the animosity 
of the Jews toward Him. He was con- 
demned by the Jews, but the Roman au- 
thorities did not consider Him worthy of 
death and would have set Him free but 
for the disturbance got up by the priests. 
It does not appear that He ever claimed 
to be God; but He felt that He had a 
mission to perform and that He would 
be protected in it — this sustained Him 
until He was actually nailed to the cross 
— betrayed by one disciple — ^denied by 
another — and deserted by all — His faith 
failed and His life ended with the mourn- 



35 



ful and despairing cry, ''My God, My 
God, why hast Thou forsaken me/' 



36 



ESSAY No. IX, 
CHRISTIAN TEACHINGS AND 
DOCTRINES AND THEIR RE- 
SULTS. 

''Do unto others as ye would they 
should do unto you." The Golden Rule. 
This is certainly a great improvemeni on 
the Jewish law of a tooth for a tooth and 
an eye for an eye, and it is a great pity 
that the Christians of the present day do 
not act on it more frequently than they 
do. And yet this rule, if carried to the 
ultimate, would not answer. The bright 
and intelligent would have to degrade 
themselves to the level of the dull and 
stupid, lest the feelings of the less highly 
endowed brother should be hurt at being 
left behind. All energy, ambition, and 
competition would be at an end — and the 
process of degradation would go on until 
the race was reduced to naked barbar- 
ism. "Take no thought for to-morrow, 
for the things of to-morrow will take care 
of themselves." This principle will certain^ 



37 



ly not work in any form of human socie- 
ty. The squirrels, bees, ants and many 
other creatures that we consider beneath 
us, take thought for the future and lay up 
stores for the winter. If men would take 
more thought for to-morrow, and also 
for the fut-ure in the next world, they 
would probably be greatly improved. In 
opposition to the above command we 
have the case of the five wise virgins who 
took a supply of oil in their cans to re- 
plenish their lamps and who were com- 
mended for taking thought; but the five 
foolish virgins were condemned for not 
having taken thought. 

In no part of the GoSipel is goodness 
enjoined simply for the sake of being 
good; but always in hope of reward — 
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall in- 
herit the earth,'' etc. On the contrary, 
a premium is put on vice, thus: '' — Joy 
shall be in heaven over one sinner that 
repenteth more than over ninety and 
nine just persons which need no repent- 
ance." Here is inducement for sinners 



38 



to revel in crime until the eleventh hour 
and then repent. Even men who would 
naturally lead respectable lives, m.ay be 
tempted to sin a little out of pure good 
nature, so that by repenting they might 
add to the amount of joy in heaven. 
Some modern preachers go so far as to 
say that good works are an abomination 
in the sight of the Lord, and that if your 
sins are as scarlet, if you believe in the 
name of the Lord Jesus Christ you will 
be washed white as snow! Could there 
be any greater inducement to commit 
sin? Look around jin any Christian coun- 
try andxsee the^esults of this teaching. 
Of coursVjJte^e are still a great many 
virtuous people living; but it is from 
their natural goodness, and not the re- 
sult of their religious teaching. *'But I 
say unto you, that whosoever looketh on 
a woman to lust after her hath commit- 
ted adultery with her already in his heart.'* 
At this rate very few men will be free 
from the crime; but is it just that a man 



should be punished' as much for a mere 
passing thought as if he Hved a hfe of 
impurity? "Be ye perfect as your Father 
in heaven is perfect." This is simply an 
impossibiHty. It is no use to aim at too 
high a standard — man is not perfect, and 
probably never will be — possibly he is 
not intended to be perfect. ''Therefore 
if thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he 
thirsteth give him to drink, for by so 
doing* thou shalt heap coals of fire on his 
head." Is this a very amiable reason for 
doing good? Saint Paul could also do a 
little cursing in a quiet, respectable 
way — ''Alexander, the coppersmith, hath 
done me much wrong — may the Lord 
reward him according to his works." 

Look at the churches of to-day. 
Whence come these costly edifices, with 
spires, bells, altars and ceremonies? — 
the lowly Jesus never ordered them. 
Like many other things- pertaining to the 
so-called Christian religion they are de- 
rived from older forms of religion (in 
which they had a meaning) which exist- 



40 



ed before the. time of Moses. 

Jesus said: 'Think not that I am 
come to send peace on earth. I am not 
come to send peace but a sword." This 
is true. 

Some of our preachers point to the 
wonderful spread of the Christian relig- 
ion as a proof of its divinity; but they 
forget to tell us that the Mohammedans 
far outnumber the Christians at the pre- 
sent time, and that Mahomet was not 
born until several centuries after the time 
of Jesus. So that if rapid growth deter- 
mines the matter, Mohammedanism 
would be a great deal more divine than 
Christianity. ''The tree is known by its 
fruits.'' Look around and see how crime 
of every kind abounds in all civilized 
Christian countries. Surely the tree 
which produces such fruit must be very 
bad. It is time to cut it down and cast 
it into the fire. 



41 



ESSAY No X, 
MIRACLES, MAGIC and SCI- 
ENCE. 

Miracles never did, or never can take 
place, if the meaning of the word is 
something occurring beyond, or con- 
trary to, the laws of Nature. The term is 
generally applied to occurrences which 
are beyond the experiences of the per- 
sons using it. In their conceited ignor- 
ance they think they know the Hmits of 
the laws of nature and therefore every- 
thing that is beyond their experience 
must be miraculous. 

To most people the sum of two and 
two is four — it is a self-evident fact — 
and they cannot imagine any power that 
could make it three or five or any other 
number than four. Of course we must 
admit that the Almighty could do any- 
thing; but it is extremely improbable 
that He would alter all the books on 
arithmetic and -upset all the calculations 
of the world just to astonish a few hu- 



42 



man creatures. To imagine that He 
could, or would, do such a foolish thing 
would be a slur on His Divine wisdom. 
Again, it is not at all likely that the x\l- 
mighty would cause the sun to apparent- 
ly stand still, in order to prolong the day- 
light, so as to enable one band of His 
creatures to complete the slaughter of 
, another band of His creatures. In order 
to stop the apparent motion of the sun 
He would have to stop the rotation of 
the earth on its axis, and also suspend 
all His laws relating to the nature of mat- 
ter, or else the earth would gO' to instant 
destruction. It did not take place, and 
it v/ould be quite as incompatible with 
divine wisdom to do such a thing as to 
make two and two anything but four. 

Owing to the ignorance, immorality 
and ceaseless greed for riches, such 
things as healing the sick by the 
laying on of hands, walking on the wa- 
ter and quelling the storm, are not com- 
mon everyday occurrences at the present 
time; but, even now, there- are some who 



43 



can perform as wonderful 'deeds. Jesus 
said that his followers should do more 
wonderful works than he did, if they had 
faith. But then, you see, his followers 
have not the necessary faith, and don't 
believe what he said unless it agrees with 
their own convenience. Faith must be 
made manifest by work. It is the same 
principle that insures success in any walk 
of life— the man who puts his whole soul 
and energy into working at any trade, 
or profession, will excel and succeed. 
The ordinary juggler, by constant prac- 
tice and determination, can perform 
tricks of sleight of hand before your 
eyes so deftly that you cannot see how ii 
is done; but he does not claim any su- 
pernatural power. 

The Magi were a class of men who 
made a life study of the occult side of 
nature, and they were able to astonish 
the uninstructed. Hence the term magic 
came to be applied to everything beyond 
the comprehension of the common pev>- 
ple. The Lord's chosen people — Jewish 



44 



or Christian — had no copyright in won- 
der-working. The Egyptians were able 
to do as wonderful things as Moses is 
said to have done. 

If we stop to consider we shall find 
that every moment of our existence we 
are surrounded by more wonderful 
things than any of the so-called miracles. 
For instance, nobody wonders at the 
fact that light can pass through, and that 
we can see through glass; but what is 
light, and hozv does it get through such 
a solid s-ubstance as glass? Who can tell? 
In the early days of Newton it was sup- 
posed that light was a very refined, or 
attenuated form of matter, and that it 
was projected in straight lines, or rays, 
from the flame of the candle, or other 
source of light. These rays had the 
power of passing through transparent 
substances such as glass; but on striking 
opaque substances they were reflected, 
and it was these reflected ra3^s striking 
our eyes caused us to see the objects. 
It was found that the rays of light on en- 



45 



tering a transparent substance were bent, 
or refracted, from their original direc- 
tion if they struck the transparent sur- 
face at any angle except an angle of 
ninety degrees. It was also found that 
a ray of white light in passing through 
a prism was divided into a number of 
rays having all the colors of the rain- 
bow. Now, let CIS consider what must 
take place in a room which is illuminat- 
ed by a single small light of any kind, 
according to this theory: There must 
be an infinite number of rays emitted 
from the flame, because it is visible from 
all parts of the room, and every point of 
the walls, floor and ceiling of the room 
must reflect an infinite number of rays 
because they are visible from all parts of 
the room. These infinite numbers of in- 
finite numbers of rays must cross each 
other in every possible direction, and yet 
they do not interfere with each other, 
and vision is distinct! Also the air in 
the room may be in a state of vibration 
caused by noise of any kind, and it may 



46 



be in more violent motion, caused b> 
drafts, or by differences of temperature 
in different parts of the room — and still 
vision is distinct! Can any miracle ever 
conceived by the mind of m.an be more 
wonderful and incomprehensible than 
this? If there are two or more lights in 
the room the number of intersecting rays 
will be increased in proportion; but vis- 
ion will not be interfered with — on the 
contrary, it will be rendered more dis- 
tinct by the increase of light. The ray- 
theory of Newton was sufficient for all 
optical purposes; but it was not sufficient 
to cover the chemical and other phenom- 
ena accompanying light, so the Scien- 
tists set to work and evolved the un- 
dulatory, or wave theory, which is brief- 
ly as follows; The scientists assert that 
all space is filled with a substance which 
they call inter-stellar aether, and it is the 
waves, or undulations of this aether 
striking against the eye that causes the 
phenomena of light and sight. This inter- 
stellar aether is a very curious substance 



47 



—it seems to be destitute of the ordinary 
physical quahties of matter. Thus, it 
offers no sensible resistance to the mo- 
tion of the heavenly bodies — it cannot be 
tasted, smelled, felt or seen and it makes 
no noise — yet the contact of its wavelets 
with the eye is the cause of surrounding 
objects becoming visible to us! Now, if 
we substitute the expression ''cmdulation 
of inter-stellar aether'' for the term 
"ray'' in the foregoing illustration of the 
incomprehensibility of the phenomena of 
light and vision, the writer does not 
think that the matter will be made much 
easier to understand. It is to be ob- 
served that this wonderful aether is not 
light; but only the transmitter of light — > 
the direction and force of its undulations 
have to be determined by the action of 
the sun, or candle or other source of 
light, very much as the Newtonian rays 
were supposed to be, and it is certainly 
most wonderful that the undulations 
don't get mixed. Is it not a curious trait 
in human nature that many of the hard- 



^ 



48 



headed philosophers who admit the ex- 
istence of this c-urious inter-stellar aether, 
would positively deny the possibility of 
the existence of the human spirit inde- 
pendently of the body because they have 
never seen it? It has been said in a pre- 
vious essay that the only positive knowl- 
edge we have is mathematical knowledge 
— all else is liable to change. The the- 
ories of light form a good example of this 
fact — the ray theory was sufficient for a 
time — the undulatory theory has sup- 
planted it, and will last until further dis- 
coveries make another theory necessary 
and then it will have to go — but tv/o and 
two still make four, and a straight lin^^- 
is still the shortest distance between two 
points. 

The scientific discoveries of the pre- 
sent age are wonderful. A few years ago 
it was deemed impossible to send an 
electric telegraphic message across the 
ocean; but that was accomplished, and 
the rising generation can scarcely realize 
that there was a time when electric tel- 



49 



egraphs were unknown. Next it was dis- 
covered that several messages could be 
sent, and in contrary directions, along 
one wire at the same time without confu- 
sion — and then comes the latest develop- 
ment — the sending of electric telegraph- 
ic messages many miles through the air 
without any wires at all. Next the tel- 
ephone makes its appearance. Here we 
find that the vibrations of the air ca^used 
by the voice of the sender are sufficient 
to cause the electric current to carry the 
message over miles of wire above and 
below ground and through the intrica- 
cies of the ''switch-board'' and cause the 
receiving instrument to deliver the mes- 
sa,ge in an audible and recognizable 
voice — or the message may be received 
by another instrument, the phonograph, 
which writes it down for future use. By 
passing the written message through an- 
other instrument, the graphophone, it 
can be repeatel in an audible and recog- 
nizable voice any number of times. Man 
seems to be making progress in ''chain- 



50 



ing the lightning'' as witness the trol- 
ly cars, dynamos, and motors of the day ; 
but does he know much more about the 
inmost nature of electricity than Frank- 
lin did, when he brought down the elec- 
tric fluid from the thunder cloud by 
means of his kite and string? 



51 



ESSAY No. XI, 
DIVINE GOVERNMENT, RE- 
wards and Punishments, Special Provr 
idence, Prayer. 

In speaking of any subject of 'which 
the speaker knows nothing to people 
who are as ignorant as himself, the best 
way for him to express his ideas is to il- 
lustrate them by comparing them with 
something with which they are acquaint- 
ed. And so, in talking of Divine Govern- 
ment, which is beyond the comprehen- 
sion of finite man, the best attempt we 
can make is to illustrate our ideas by re- 
ferring to forms of government with 
which we are acquainted. 

A writer of note has said that the best 
form of government is Autocracy — pro- 
vided you can get an Angel from Heaven 
for the Autocrat. The difficulty of get- 
ting suitable angels for rulers prevents 
the autocratic being the ideal form of 
government on earth; but this difficulty 
does not apply to the Divine Ruler, who 



52 



is perfect in all His ways. Monarchies 
are an uns^uccessful imitation of the hea- 
venly plan — ''The King can do no 
wroug'X?) The King being the earthly 
representative of the Heavenly King. 
Republics are a practical protest against 
the abuses of the Monarchial system; but 
they have errors of their own, and lack 
the unity and stability necessary for a 
perfect form of government. 

Leaving the government of nations, 
let us consider what would be the course 
adopted by a benevolent employer, who 
would treat his work-people properly, 
and who was going to start a factory in 
a new district. He would appoint man- 
agers to take charge of the various de- 
partments of his business — they would 
have sub-managers under them — there 
would be clerks, mechanics, office-ooys 
and laborers, all with their appointed du- 
ties to perform. The master would pro- 
vide comfortable cottages for the labor- 
ers and mechanics to live in — small 
houses of a better class for the clerks, 



53 



sub-managers and managers — and hous- 
es of a still better class for the heads of 
departments. There would be a code of 
rules drawn up, with punishments varying 
from reprimands to fines or dismissal, 
for various offences — and these rules a»nd 
punishments would be applicable to all 
classes of employes alike. If the employ- 
er wanted to know the number, sex and 
age of the children on his estate in order 
to determine what school accommoda- 
tion was required for them, it is probable 
that he would appoint a properly quali- 
fied officer to take, the census instead 
of going around to all the houses and cot- 
tages himself to gain the information. In 
a similar manner, is it not more probable 
that if our Heavenly Ruler really wants 
to know the exact number of hairs on 
our heads. He would appoint a whole 
army of officers to do the counting and 
make up the return, than that He would" 
make a personal examination of the more 
or less dirty heads of the population of 
the earth? 



54 



As to Rewards and Punishments. — Is 
it not more reasonable to suppose that 
the All-wise Creator would so arrange 
matters as to fit suitable p4inishmxent to 
every crime, and suitable reward to every 
gcfbd action, than that His time should 
be occupied in punishing sinners individ- 
ually, and patting the good boys on the 
back? Are not these things planned like 
effect following the cause? Fire is a 
very useful thing; but if one man igno- 
rantly puts his hand into the fire, and if 
another man does the same thing out of 
bravado, they will both be burnt and suf- 
fer alike; but in the first case the man 
gets useful experience and will not do the 
same thing again. In the second case 
the man is justly punished for his willful- 
ly foohsh conduct. Very often the v/ick- 
ed man appears to prosper and flourish, 
while the honest man remains poor, and 
has to work hard all his life in order to 
get a living. The good man has a feel- 
ing of calmness and contentment follow- 
ing every good act, which is unknown to 



55 



the rich rogue who, if he has any con- 
science at all, must live a Hfe of fear of 
being found out. The honest man fre- 
quently murmurs, and thinks he is not 
receiving justice; but in addition to the 
feeling of self-satisfaction referred to 
above, let him v/ait until he gets to his 
homic in the next life, and he will prob- 
ably find that he is much better oflf than 
the rich man vv^hose lot he was inclined to 
envy. 'The mills of God grind slowly 
but they grind exceeding small.'' Sick- 
ness, sorrow and trouble are not unmnxed 
evils in this life — the healthy, robust man 
who never knew what sickness or trouble 
was, is generally very selfish and has little 
sympathy for his suffering fellow crea- 
tures. But those who have suffered them- 
selves are more likely to extend sympa- 
thy and aid to their suffering neighbors. 
The lame may help the blind, while the 
strong man may pass by without think- 
ing of giving a helping hand to either 
of them. "Whom the Lord loveth He 
chasteneth" — but the chastening process 



56 



is sometimes hard to bear. 

Most people at some period of their 
Hves have had pecuHar experiences which 
the religiously inclined person would at- 
tribute to the intervention of a special 
Providence; but which a less spiritually 
minded person would call a lucky chance, 
or accident. Thus, a person may have 
made an appointment to meet someone 
about some important business but just 
as he was ready to start a friend, or ac- 
quaintance, called and detained him un- 
til it was too late to keep the appoint- 
ment. This was vexatious at the time; bat 
it became apparent, later on, that he had 
escaped considerable loss by missing that 
particular business transaction. Another 
man may have had to take a journey and 
determined to start by a certain train; 
but some delay takes place and he arrives 
at the station just too late to go by the 
train he intended to go by. He frets and 
fumes but he has to wait until the next 
train starts. When he got to his jour- 
ney's end he learned that the earlier train 



57 



had met with an accident, and that several 
persons were killed, and many others in- 
jured. He then feels that it was a special 
interposition of Providence that hindered 
him being on the earher train! But what 
about the killed and injured?- — had Prov- 
idence no regard for them? We are told 
that man is made "a little lower than the 
Angels/' May it not be that the *1ucky'' 
individuals in the above instanced cases 
were helped by Angels just a little higher 
tuan themselves in the scale of creation? 
But why did not Providence take care of 
the passengers who were killed and injur- 
ed? Referring to the sketch of a model 
employer's works in the earlier part of 
this essay: — Suppose one of the laborers 
was in danger of losing his life through 
commencing a certain piece of work in 
an improper manner — one of the me- 
chanics saw his danger — stopped him and 
showed him how to do the work. Now 
this laborer had cause to be thankful to 
the mechanic who had saved his life; but 
the proprietor of the works had nothing 



58 



to do with it, and merited no particular 
thanks. In another part of the work^ 
we will suppose that another laborer, 
through his own carelessness fell off a 
ladder and broke one of his limbs. The 
proprietor of the works deserved no 
blame in this case. He had nothing to do 
v/ith it, and he had done lus duty m pro- 
viding proper hospital and medical treat- 
ment in case of accidents. The laborer 
had no cause to accuse his employer of 
injustice because his limb was broken 
and the other man's life was saved. 

Prayer — what is it? An act of worship? 
— or the cry of a distressed soul for help, 
guidance and protection? — an acknowl- 
edgement of our dependence upon a Su- 
preme Being? What are the legitimate 
Hmits of prayer and how is it answered? 
As an act of worship it is right to address 
our supplications to the Most High, and 
not to our fellow creatures. ''See thou do 
it not, for we are thy fellow creatures/' 
I^rayer is sometimes a relief to the over- 
burdened soul — but why is it necessary? 



59 



Would not our loving, perfect Heavenly 
Father supply us with all that is ,good and 
necessary for us without being asked? 
An average earthly father will do as 
much to supply his children with the nec- 
essaries and comforts of life as his means 
will permit, without being asked — how 
much more may we not rely on our Hea- 
venly Father's goodness? What are the 
legitimate limits of prayer? If we pray 
for the destruction of our enemies, or for 
some personal gain which wouJd be in- 
j-urious to a fellow-creature, we shall 
probably not obtain our desir", for the 
Lord — who knows all things — may see 
that the other party may be as worthy 
of help as we are. In this case we are 
transgressing the proper limits. Then 
again, a great many prayers that are 
made savour very much of instructing the 
Lord what He ought to do and what He 
ought not to do. Surely this is imper- 
tinence, if not something worse. The 
ways of the Almighty being perfect, to 
ask Him to alter His plans in any way, 



6o 



to gri;tify a few poor human mites, ib to 
ask Him to make matters less perfect. 
''The effectual prayer of a righteous man 
availeth much." From this we may in- 
fer that all the prayers even of the right- 
-^ous, are not effectual — but still the fact 
remains that in many cases the cry for 
help, even of a sinner, in the hour of 
danger meets with immediate response. 
But in these cases the help given is of 
such a nature as can be given by kind An- 
gels, only a little higher than ourselves, 
without interfering with the immutable 
laws of God. 



6i 

ESSAY No. XII, 
MATTER AND SPIRIT. 

The discoveries of man in the realms of 
matter, as already instanced in electric 
telegraphy without wire — machines that 
can repeat sounds — machines which can 
record speeches, music and other sounds 
when acted on by the vibrations of the 
nir — and, later still, photographs of niov- 
iag objects, which when thrown upon a 
screen by a suitable apparatus, produce 
an exact representation of the move- 
ments of the objects, are truly wonder- 
ful. It is a curious thing that the men 
who are most familiar with such impal- 
pable things as light, air and electricitv 
are, as a rule, the most opposed to admit 
that such a thing as Spirit can exist. They 
seem to think they have got the iu'l 
measure of creation — they have never 
seen a spirit — therefore spirits can have 
no existence! There is, or was, a little 
narrow sect of religionists who called 



62 



themselves "Substantialists'' who make 
a distinction of meaning between the 
words substance and matter. They have 
too much intelHgence to be satisfied with 
the teachings of Moses, and to save them- 
selves from falling into the darkness of 
materialism, they say that spirit is not 
matter but substance of a very rcSned 
character. But until man can make a 
machine that can think, and originate 
ideas, the writer will be of the opinion 
that there is an essential difference be- 
tween spirit and matter. When the scien- 
tific man in the course of his investiga- 
tions, notices a phenomenon which fre- 
quently recurs, he gives it a name by 
which to refer to it instead of having to 
describe it every time. Thus to such 
substances as glass, crystal, etc., which 
can be seen through, he gives the name 
of transparent. And to the people who 
are not in the habit of thinking, this 
word "transparent'' is a sufficient expla- 
nation of the whole matter. 

The great discovery of Mesmer was ig- 



63 



nored, and he was branded as a charletar 
for generations; but ''the world moves" 
and thoughtful men experimented and 
found that they could influence other 
people as Mesmer was said to have done. 
After a time lecturers began to travel 
round, giving public exhibitions of their 
power of controlling other people's bo- 
dies, and so the matter claimed so much 
attention that the Scientists could no 
longer ignore it, and they made a partial 
investigation of the subject, and came to 
the conclusion that the phenomena were 
the effect of the assertion, or ''sugges- 
tion" of the operator on the subject, and 
they gave it the name of Hypnotism. It 
has become an every-day word and peo- 
ple speak about hypnotism as glibly as if 
they knew all about it. "Professors" ad- 
vertise that for so many dollars they will 
teach anyone the art so as to enable them 
to control others to do their will. Even 
thieves have pleaded being under hyp- 
notic control, in order to escape the con- 
sequences of their misdeeds; but so far 



64 



the plea has not been successful in the 
courts of law. 

Instead of being anything rare, the 
control of matter by spirit is one of the 
most freq^ient occurrences with which we 
are acquainted. It is so common that 
people do not notice it any more than 
they do the fact of light shining through 
the window pane. We are told that our 
bodies are made of "dust," or according 
to more modern views, of a number of 
inert elements. It is the action of the in- 
dwelling spirit that controls the develop- 
ment, growth and actions of the man. It 
may be here objected that if life and spir- 
it are the same in man, then the "beasts 
that perish" and every living creature 
must have a spirit. Who knows? It is 
very improbable that the mites in a 
cheese have any knowledge of all the 
works of nature with which man is ac- 
quainted, and it is just as probable that 
finite man has no conception of all that 
our Father's kingdom contains. How the 
spirit controls inert matter is not certain- 



65 



ly known. Possibly there is a subtle flu- 
id — a kind of refined electricity, which 
the spirit is able to control and direct in 
the manner necessary to produce the 
phenomena of the body's vital functions. 
Some spirits may have a greater control 
of this vital fluid, or "animal magnetism" 
than others, and these will be the indi- 
viduals who can impart health and 
strength to others by mesmeric manipu- 
lations, laying on of hands, etc. Why is it 
that so many people positively deny the 
possibility of imparting health And 
strength by such means? At the same 
time they have no do-ubt about the dan- 
ger of "catching" disease. If a healthy 
person is in danger of catching disease 
from the proximity of a sick person, why 
should a sick person not ''catch" strength 
from the proximity of a strong, healthy 
person? This is no new idea. There is 
the case of David, who when he got old 
and feeble had a healthy young woman, 
Abishag by name, provided to sleep with 
him in order to give him strength. And 



66 



it is well known that children who sleep 
with their aged grandparents do not 
prosper. Also if a strong and healthy 
young woman marries a weak, consump- 
tive man, it is often observed that he wall 
gain in health and strength but the roses 
fade from the woman's cheeks — she be- 
comes a confirmed invalid, or passes 
away prematurely to her grave. A simi- 
lar result will follow if a strong healtiiy 
man marries a delicate woman — his 
health will suffer and she will gain. 
Everybody carries a certain influence, or 
''magnetism,'' with them which can be 
felt more or less by others. Thus it is 
a common experience that after a visit 
from a certain acquaintance we feel 
stronger, refreshened and in better spir- 
its, while after a visit from another ac- 
quaintance we feel weak, tired and de- 
pressed. The second visitor may be quite 
as virtuous and refined as the first one 
and not have spoken of anything of a 
disagreeable nature; but you feel reheved 
when the visitor departs. 



67 



This unseen influence of one person 
over another is nothing new. It has al- 
ways existed, and in certain cases it can 
be conveyed to a distance, the presence 
of the healer not being always necessary. 
Thus, St. Paul was in the habit of wear- 
ing aprons and handkerchiefs — to absorb 
his magnetism — and sending them to 
their owners to cure their sicknesses. 
Some modern healers adopt the same 
plan with varying success. Again, the 
prophet Elisha was in the habit of cur- 
ing sickness at a distance by sending his 
stafif to be laid on the sick person. He 
told his servant to hurry up and take his 
staff and lay it on the Shunamitish wo- 
man's sick son's face; but she did not 
think that treatment sufficient, and she 
urged him to make a personal visit. He 
went and imparted some of his animal 
heat to the child and inflated his lungs 
by breathing into his mouth, and so re- 
stored the apparently dead boy to life and 
health. 

The holy men of old did quite a lu- 



68 



crative business in blessing and cursing 
for payment. Thus, Balak hired Balaam 
to curse his enemies and made very liber- 
al offers to Balaam; but he got no ad- 
vantage for his trouble, for after going to 
considerable expense in supplying altars, 
bullocks and rams he was disappointed, 
for his enemies were blessed instead of 
being cursed. 

How many classes of spirits are there? 
We hear of Angels and Archangels. Are 
they a different class of spirits from man, 
and to which man can never attain? Or 
are they the spirits of just men made per- 
fect? Then again, what of the spirits of 
the lower animals, and other classes of 
spirits distinct from man, as the 
Gnomes, Sprites, Genii, Fairies and 
Spirits of the mines? These ques- 
tions have occupied the minds of 
thinkers of all ages and still they re- 
main unanswered. The bulk of unthink- 
ing people affirm that man is the only an- 
imal that is blessed with an immortal soul. 
The intelligence shown by the lower an- 



69 



imals is only "instinct" they say; but if 
you observe the actions of a well used 
dog, you will find that to a certain ex- 
tent he has reasoning faculties, and for 
true affection, intelligence and reliability 
he is far above many of the human ani- 
mals. As to the genii, gnomes, faries and 
spirits of the mines — of course the en- 
lightened Christians know that they are 
the product of ignorant superstition; but 
some clairvoyants declare that they have 
seen these little people, and the Cornish 
miners believe in the little spirits who 
guide them, to where the richest veins of 
ore are located by the rapping noises 
which they make. In the olden times the 
believers in Metempsychosis said the 
souls of wicked men were incarnated in 
the bodies of animals, as a punishment for 
their sins. This was bad for the animals, 
as so many "good" people would try to 
help the Lord to do His work by being 
uselessly cruel to the animals, in order to 
increase the punishment of their wicked 
souls. Again, others say that the souls 



70 



of the rich and selfish have to be rein- 
carnated in the bodies of the poor and 
miserable, as an expiation of their sins 
while in a previous life. This punishment 
would be more effectual if the sufferer 
could remember the splendor of his pre- 
vious incarnation. These and other like 
questions cannot be answered now; but 
there will be plenty of time during etern- 
ity to study them all. 



71 



ESSAY No. XIII, 

SPIRITUAL CONTROL. 

INSPIRATION. 

When Mesmer, more than a hundred 
years ago, first began his investigation of 
the unseen forces connected with the Ufe 
of man he had the idea that he was deal- 
ing with some variety of electricity, and 
employed batteries, wires, etc., with the 
idea of developing, or strengthening the 
force. Bdt further investigation soon 
showed that such apparatus was unnec- 
essary and that the force resided in the 
man. It was found that passiveness on 
the part of the subject, and ''passes'' 
made by the operator would induce the 
mesmeric state and give control of the 
subject. When the facts of Mesmerism, 
or animal magnetism, as it was called, 
became so well known that they could no 
longer be ignored, the scientists, as al- 
ready stated, made a partial investigation, 
and came to the conclusion that the ef- 



72 



fects were produced on the subjects by 
the assertions, or suggestions of the op- 
erator. They dubbed the whole matter 
Hypnotism and that was supposed to set- 
tle the matter. But "suggestion" does 
not account for all the phenomena con- 
nected with mesmerism, or animal mag- 
netism — it does not account for the op- 
erator being able to control the scibject 
without word or gesture to indicate his 
will — nor does it explain how the subject 
can be influenced at a distance — still less 
does it explain the phenomenon of clair- 
voyance, which frequently occurs in the 
mesmeric sleep, or trance, in which the 
subject describes scenes which are tak- 
mg place many miles away and of which 
neither subject nor operator have any 
knowledge at the time. Nor is it easy to 
see how "suggestion" can prevent a pa- 
tient feeling any pain whilst undergoing 
a severe surgical operation. 

We have seen that the indwelling spirit 
of man controls the otherwise inert mat- 
ter of the body — next, we have the spirit 



73 



of a living man controlling the body of 
another Hving man, as shown by the hyp- 
otic experiments — the next step is the 
bodies of living men being controlled by 
spirits who are no longer encumbered 
with earthly bodies. This is no new idea 
— common language shows it^ — thus w^e 
frequently hear the expression ''the idea 
strikes me." This is an admission that 
the speaker does not claim the idea as his 
own but that it comes from without. 
Then again we talk of people being in- 
spired to do or say such and such a things 
which shows that the impulse comes 
from withodt. A great poet cannot at 
any time sit down and write lines that 
will thrill the souls of people for genera- 
tions to come — he must wait until the in- 
spiration comes. The seers, and holy 
men of old did not claim to originate 
their ideas; but prefaced their teachings 
with "thus saith the Lord." There are 
persons still living who would like to thus 
gain credence for their out-pourings; but 
it will generally be found, from the qual- 



74 



ity of their sayings, that their inspirations 
cannot come from any source above an- 
gels very Httle higher than themselves in 
the scale of creation. 

When a man dies his spirit must begin 
life in the spirit world with just the same 
ideas, likes and dislikes, and prejudices 
as he had when in the body. He must 
begin the new life just where he left off 
the old one. There is no such tJiing as 
being changed into an angel of light in 
an instant. It is a mathematical impossi- 
bility — you cannot get from one point to 
a distant point without passing through 
all the intermediate points. You may fol- 
low the straight line — the shortest dis- 
tance — -or you may go a roundabout way, 
but you have to traverse all the interme- 
diate points. The change called death is 
only leaving off the old worn out, and 
sometimes ill-fittin,g, suit of clay ; but the 
spirit is the same and must continue to 
take an interest in the affairs of this 
world. 

Most, if not all, the religious sects of 



75 



the world are founded on, or owe their 
power to spiritual phenomenon. The Old 
Testament abounds with cases of spirit 
power and intervention. The Christian 
dispensation was ushered in with remark- 
able manifestations of spirit power. The 
Roman Catholic Church depends largely 
on spirit manifestation through her saints 
and angels, and holy men. The true 
Quakers had no -use for priests, or pro- 
fessional preachers; but depended on the 
spirit controlling some member of the 
flock to speak. It is said that '7^^ 
Smith" was inspired to dig up the book of 
Mormon — the foundation on which Mor- 
monism is built — this is considered to be 
a myth by many; but is it more absurd 
than to believe that the Creator — the 
Lord of all — with His own hands quar- 
ried, dressed and engraved the two tab- 
les of the law, and presented them in a 
finished state to Moses in the Mount? 
Perhaps the least spirit-ual sect of relig- 
ionists are the Protestant Christians. 
Their creed, as set forth by St. Athan- 



76 



asius, professes to be the entire truth and 
unalterable — it must not be added to, or 
taken from, and every one who doesn't 
subscribe to it, or swallow it whole, will 
''without doubt'' be damned. It is an inv 
pious (or imbecile?) attempt of ignorant, 
conceited man to sum up the mysteries 
of the Almighty — a vain attempt of the 
finite to encompass the infinite. Hov\/ 
any sensible person at the present day 
can profess to believe such a farago of 
nonsense is truly wonderful. 'The Son was 
born of the Virgin Mary — and was con- 
ceived before all worlds." If so, the Vir- 
gin Mary must have been a tough old 
girl when the baby was born. And then 
the arithmetic is so peculiar — three are 
equal to one, and one is equal to three — 
and each of the units are equal to three!!! 
That the spirits of the dead retain their 
individuality and knowledge of the affairs 
of the living, and that, under favorable 
circumstances, they can communicate 
wdth the living is shown by the case of 
Samuel's interview with Saul at Endor. 



77 



It is a common saying of unthinking 
Christians that the spirits of the dead can- 
not return, because if they got into hea- 
ven, they would have no desire to re- 
turn, and if they go to hell the Devil 
would not let them come. What miserable 
reasoning is this, and what a poor state 
of mind it shows. In the first case, if the 
spirit retains any human feeling, or re- 
collection of its past life, it would certain- 
ly desire to return and comfort and help 
the dear ones left behind. In the second 
case, if the earth-life of the spirit had been 
so wicked as to merit damnation, it would 
belong to the class which the Devil 
would delight to send back to continue 
doing his work. Devout Christians com- 
bat the argument that ties of af- 
fection would induce good spirits to 
come back, by saying that when the spir- 
it enters heaven it is so entranced by the 
brilliancy of the glory surrounding it that 
all remembrance of earthly life is ob- 
literated. If this be so, it is annihilation 
and not life everlasting. 



ESSAY No. XIV, 
MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 

The outbreak of spirit power, known 
as Modern Spiritualism, differs from pre- 
vious outbreaks of the same power, in 
that it has come to the people generally, 
and cannot be claimed by any sect as 
their exclusive property. Its origin was 
humble, and it has come to the poor and 
ignorant more than to the learned and 
wise — in their own conceits. For some 
time, commencing in the latter part of 
the year 1847, Mr. Fox and his family, 
who lived at Hydesville near Roches- 
ter, N. Y., were disturbed every night by 
raps, or knockings, for which they could 
find no cause. These noises steadily in- 
creased until the night of March 31st, 
1848, when the youngest child, Kate, 
who was familiar v/ith the noises and had 
no fear, thus addressed the invisible 
knocker: "Here Mr. Split-foot, do as I 
do." She then snapped her fingers three 



79 



times, and she was delighted to find that 
the Invisible imitated the noise. She then 
moved her fingers and thumb three times 
without making any noise, and was still 
more delighted to find that ''it could see 
as well as hear/' After a time a code of 
signals was arranged, by which it was 
stated that the raps were caused by the 
spirit of a pedlar who had been murdered 
in the house some years before, and his 
body buried ten feet below the cellar 
floor. For full particulars of this break- 
ing down of the partition between this 
world and the next, the reader is referred 
to Emma Hardinge's History of Modern 
American Spiritualism. 

The news of this affair spread rapidly, 
and in a short time there were ''Me- 
diums" springing up, and wonderful 
manifestations taking place, all over the 
civilized world. Amongst the manifes- 
tations may be mentioned, table-tipping 
and rapping, heavy bodies lifted and sus- 
pended in the air without visible cause, 
solid bodies passed through solid bodies 



8o 



without injury to either, persons carried 
through the air for considerable distanc- 
es, bodies and people caused to become 
invisible, ^'materialization" of the spirits 
of the dead, trance and clairvoyance, 
reading the past lives of individuals and 
foretelHng future events, inspirational 
speaking and writing, and many other 
manifestations of abnormal power. Oi 
course, the knowing ones, who had no 
personal experience of such things, and 
were too wise in their own opinions to 
waste their time in investigation, con- 
demned the whole matter as nothing but 
delusion and fraud. B-ut, now that the 
period of excitement has passed, let us 
examine some of these phenomena by the 
light of science and reason. 

Lifting heavy bodies of? the ground, 
holding them suspended in the air and 
carrying them from one place to another. 
If two or three living people take hold of 
some object, such as a table, and hold it 
in the air, or carry it from place to place, 
it would be nothing wondertul; but if the 



same people, after they have laid aside 
their earthly vestments, do th^ same 
thing it is considered marvelous. The 
reason that it takes considerable force to 
lift and carry things about is determined 
by scientists to be because they are acted 
on by an unseen force of Nature, dis- 
covered by the immortal JNewton, called 
the attraction of gravitation. If a magnet 
be held over a piece of iron, not too larg > 
for the power of the magnet, it will ''fall" 
upwards to the magnet and adhere to it 
notwithstanding the force of gravity. 
Now we should remember that we don't 
know everything yet, and that it is pos- 
sible that the scientists in the next life 
may know more about the forces of na- 
ture than we do, and can manipulate 
them so as to astonish us poor dull mor- 
tals, when they want to rouse us up from 
our state of self-complacency. We are 
told that Elisha by his word caused an 
iron axe-head to rise from the bottom of 
the water and swim. Also Elijah was 
lifted up, body and soul, off the earth to 



82 



heaven and when part way -up he dropped 
his mantle for EHsha's use. Need Vv^e then 
doubt that Mahomet's coffin was sus- 
pended in the air, or w^onder at a spir- 
itualist's table being lifted off the floor? 

Next. — Passing solid matter through 
solid matter. Scientists tell us that the 
particles, or atoms, of which solid sub- 
stances consist, are held together by an 
in-dwelling force of nature, which they 
have called the attraction of cohesion. At 
some ''circles" such things as the follow- 
ing have be€n done. An iron ring is 
passed round for examination and found 
to be jointless. It is then laid on the ta- 
ble and the light is put out for a short 
time, and when the light is restored the 
ring is found to be round the neck of one 
of the sitters. How did the ring get 
there — it being too small to slip over 
the sitter's head? How can it be done? 
Simply the invisible operator has suffi- 
cient skill to overcome the attraction of 
cohesion of part of the ring while he pulls 
it apart sufficiently to allow him to slip 



83 



it round the sitter's neck, and to replace 
the parts sufficiently close together to 
come within the range of the attraction of 
cohesion. It is no more wonderf^al than 
that you can pull the armature ofif a mag- 
net and then replace it. St. Peter expe- 
rienced a manifestation of the kind of 
which we are treating, when the chains 
were taken ofif his wrists, and he was de- 
livered from prison. 

Sohd objects and persons being ren- 
dered invisible. — This is not an uncom- 
mon occurance amongst the Hindoos, 
and it is by no means rare nearer home. 
Some people spend a considerable time 
in looking for articles which are before 
their eyes all the time. Possibly the spir- 
it-operator may know how to handle the 
''inter-stellar ether" so as to prevent its 
"undulations," reflected from certain ob- 
jects, reaching the eye, or they may be 
able to so influence the optic nerves so 
as to prevent the impressions made by 
the said undulations reaching the brain; 
or the result may possibly be obtained 



84 



by the spirits being able to envelope the 
object with some pecuhar ''aura" of 
which we mortals know nothing at pre- 
sent. After the chains were removed 
from St. Peter's wrists he must have be- 
come invisible, as he passed the inner and 
outer guards without being seen. He 
v/as taken from the prison and through 
the city gate (which opened of itself) in 
a semi-unconscious state, for he thc-ught 
the whole transaction was a vision, until 
he wakened up and found himself in the 
familiar street. 

Clairvoyance, etc. — Investigators who 
have sittings with professional ''Me- 
diums'' are frequently surprised at v/hat 
a great amount of truth they are told 
about their past lives, but when it comes 
to describing the future, the Medium's ut- 
terances are not so clear and reliable. 
Prof. Denton, in his interesting book, 
"Nature's Secrets" advocates the idea 
that we leave, as it were, a photographic 
impression of our action, and even words, 
on surrounding objects as we pass along 



85 



in life, and that these impressions remain, 
and can be read by suitably endowed per- 
sons, whom he calls Psychometers. Good 
people tell us that our thoughts and ac- 
tions are all recorded in the Book of Life. 
If so, may not the spirits have access to 
that book, and be able to read w^hat is 
already written? But beyond the pres- 
ent, the pages will be a blank. Never- 
theless, the spirits may be able to dravv^ 
very correct conclusions from the records 
of the past, as to what is likely to follow 
in certain cases, and also they may know 
what it is the intention of some of our 
fellow creatures to do for us. It some- 
times happens that the predictions of me- 
diums are realized in the near future. 

Inspirational speaking and writing. — 
Many impressionable persons Vv^ere con- 
trolled to speak and write on spiritual and 
kindred subjects. Perhaps the most re- 
markable case was that of Andrew Jack- 
son Davis, who when young had very lit- 
tle education. He was the son of a poor 
country shoemaker, and was apprenticed 



86 



to that trade. His remarkable gifts 
were first discovered and brought 
into notice by a gentleman who prac- 
ticed healing by mesmeric or mag- 
netic treatment, and who lectu^'ed 
on such subjects. He found yourg Da- 
vis, then about fourteen years of age, 
very susceptible to the magnetic influ- 
ence, and when in the unconscious trance 
state he became clairvoyant and gave ex- 
cellent diagnoses of, and prescriptions 
for, patients that were brought to him. 
After a tim.e he announced, while in the 
trance state, that he was going to deliver 
a course of lectures in public, and he ap- 
pointed the Rev. Dr. Lyon to magnetize 
him before the commencement of each 
lecture, and the Rev. Wm. Fishbough to 
report the lectures. The lectures were 
duly delivered and produced a great sen- 
sation. The spirits soon acquired such 
control of him, and educated him to such 
a degree that they could inspire him to 
write their ideas without his being in the 
trance state. He wrote a number of very 



87 



remarkable books which, perhaps, have 
not yet been duly appreciated. He did 
not claim to be a Messiah; he simply 
gave to the world the message that wab 
given to him. When his work was done 
he retired into private life respectably and 
respected. 

Another remarkable case of spirit con- 
trol was that of Dr. Newbrough. He was 
an educated man and follov/ed a lucrative 
profession. He was told that he had a 
mission to perform for the good of hu- 
manity, and he was impressed to pur- 
chase a typewriter and place it in a sniaii 
room in his house, which was to be dedi- 
cated to the use of the spirits. After 
purifying himself by fasting for a certain 
time, he began to write under sprit con- 
trol and did not read what was written 
until given permission to do so by the 
controlling spirit. The book was finished, 
printed and published under the title of 
''Ohaspe'' and for a time it prod^uced 
quite a sensation in spiritualistic circles. 
Some looked upon it as a second Bible, 



88 



and portions of it were read at their Sun- 
day meetings. Dr. Newbrough and some 
other enthusiasts determined to t.'ar 
away from the wickedness of civihzation, 
and start a community in accordance with 
the principles laid down in the book. 
Their money was soon exhausted, inhar- 
mony crept in, the community crumbled 
away, and Dr. Newbrough died in ex- 
" treme poverty. 

So far this outpouring of spirit power 
does not appear, to the ordinary observ- 
er, to have accomplished much good in 
the world. Spiritualists are much like the 
rest of the world — good, bad and indiffer- 
ent. Societies have been formed, news- 
papers published and communities start- 
ed with great enthusiasm; but few, if any 
of them, have stood the test of time, and 
they are numbered with the things of the 
past. Mediums have been ^'exposed" 
frequently, and the main body of spirit- 
ualists are divided into two parties — the 
Progressives and the Re-incarnationists 
— who seem to hate and despise each oth- 



89- 



er with as much vigor as any two Chris- 
tian sects. It appears to the writer that 
this antagonism between the two parties 
arises from the old weakness of finite 
man assuming that he is able to comipre- 
hend and define the infinite. The Pro- 
gressionists say that reincarnation would 
be contrary to nature's law of progress — 
would interfere with family relationships 
and might lead to improprieties. For in- 
stance, a woman's own mother miight 
be reincarnated in one of her own chil- 
dren, so that when correcting her child 
she might be committing the undutiful 
act of ''spanking" her own miother. W'e 
are told that there is neither marriage nor 
giving in marriage in the next world, but 
all are as the angels, so that it is possible, 
or probable, that family relationships do 
not last very long in the next life. Be that 
as it may, it surely would be progress for 
the souls of our remote ancestors — who 
were naked savages — to come back and 
gain practical knowledge of the advance 
of civilization. Even some of the plated 



90 



savages of the present day might 
be improved by being passed through 
the mill of experience of earth- 
life several times. Also, on the 
score of economy it might be more 
desirable to use imperfectly educated 
spirits over and over again than to re- 
quire a new soul for every baby that is 
born. 

But life on earth is not the only school 
for spirits to learn in. "There's something 
in heaven for little children to do" as the 
Sunday-school hymn says, and let us 
hope there is something for grown up 
spirits to do also. May it not be that spir- 
its may be able to work out their own 
salvation by watching over and helping 
spirits still in the flesh? The lower class 
of spirits might be employed in protect- 
ing us from accidents and warning us of 
danger — higher spirits might impress us 
with higher ideas, and at the same time 
be promoting their own advancement, 
and so on. The Progressives affirm that 
the spirit-world is divided into ''spheres." 



91 



The ignorant and dark spirits gravitate 
to the lowest sphere, next to the earth. 
Each succeeding sphere is inhabited by a 
more enHghtened class of spirits than the 
preceding one. A lower class of spirits 
can not enter a higher sphere until they 
-are sufficiently purified; but the higher 
spirits can pass through all the lower 
spheres on tneir errands of mercy to suf- 
fering mankind. 

There are many dififerences of opinion 
amongst the Reincarnationists which are 
beyond the scope of these essays to ent^r 
into. 

May it not be that the want of har- 
mony and cohesion among Spiritualists 
is one of the strongest evidences that the 
movement is being controlled by a high- 
er and wiser power than man? If the 
spiritualists were markedly better than 
their neighbors, and if mediums were all 
reliable, there would be a danger of the 
whole movement crystallizing into an- 
other little sect, of which we have too 
many already. Biit the idea that spirits 



92 



exist, and can communicate with the 
Hving is becoming famihar to all classes 
— and perhaps the time may come when 
each individual will w^ake up to the fact 
that he is nothing but a spirit, although 
clothed in flesh, and that his thoughts 
'and actions, in order to secure present 
and future happiness, require careful at- 
tention every day in the week and not on 
Sundays only. When man shall have re- 
alized this truth, modern spiritualism will 
have performed its mission. 

Like every good thing Spiritualism can 
be abused, and it is not free from danger. 
Thus, some extra ''cute'' people, after be- 
ing convinced that there is "something 
in it'' will try to turn it to advantage by 
asking the spirits how certain specula- 
tions, or b-usiness transactions will turn 
out, or which horse will win, or whether 
stocks are going to rise or fall. As Hke 
attracts like, or as the old saying has it, 
''birds of a: feather flock together," pos- 
sibly the soul of some old tipster or busi- 
ness man may come and give a correct 



93 



*'tip'' to the inquirer, but in the end such 
inquirers get badly 'left." Again, anoth- 
er class of enthusiastic inquirers appeal to 
the ''dear spirits'' to instruct and advise 
them in every little trifling affair of life. 
This is degrading to the inquirer — it is 
giving up his individuality and becominrj 
a mere tool in the hands of someone else. 
It is delightful to feel that we have 
friends, both in this life and the next, who 
in emergency, will give us assistance and 
help, but if we trouble our earthly friends 
too often they will give us the "cold 
shoulder," and probably ocir spirit friends 
will, apparently, do the same thing, with 
the .good intention of making us exert 
our own energies, and perform our du- 
ties in life. 

What are called the physical manifes- 
tations are no doubt useful in attracting 
the attention of the unthinking people, 
but they are the lowest form of spirit 
communion. Moving and carrying heavy 
articles, passing solid bodies through sol- 
id bodies, playing on musical instru- 



94 



ments, materializations, etc., belong to 
this class. It is amongst the Mediums for 
this class of manifestations that the great- 
est number of "exposures'' take place. It 
does not follow that the Medium is solely 
to blame — he or she may start out in 
their career with perfectly good inten- 
tions, but the too constant control by a 
low class of spirits for the am-usement of 
a rather unintelligent class of sitters will 
tell on the moral perceptions of the Me- 
dium^ and they and their "guides'' are 
apt to adopt deception in order to more 
easily keep the show running and satisfy 
their patrons. It is right for true inves- 
tigators to see such manifestations to sat- 
isfy themselves that such things do oc- 
cur; but to go night after night and year 
after year to witness furniture being 
knocked about, and hear musical instru- 
ments being played upon^ without hands, 
is a lo-S3 of time and does not promote 
theincreaseof the sum of knowledge. The 
next higher form of manifestation is the 
description of what the Medium hears 



95 



and sees. But here comes the temptation 
to conceal anything that might be pain- 
ful or offensive to the sitter. The q^ual- 
ity of communications should be judged 
by the amount of intelligence displayed. 
But the highest form of communication 
is Inspiration, which we all might have 
if we prepared ourselves to receive it. 

The spirit was not in the fire or the 
flood nor in the earthquake; but in the 
still small voice within. 

One reason why mediums are fre- 
quently uneducated persons is that they 
are more easily convinced than more ed- 
ucated people would be. Thus when a 
simple, uneducated person sees a spirit, 
or hears a voice where there is no speak- 
er to be seen, he is satisfied that he sees 
and hears, but a more educated person, 
who has no belief in the invisible, if he 
should happen to see a shadowy form 
flitting before his eyes would think that 
his stomach was out of order, or if he 
heard voices in the air, he would know 
that his nervous system was out of bal- 



96 



ance, and he would probably take medi- 
cine to restore himself to health. Thus 
the efforts of his spirit friends to commu- 
nicate v/ith him would be thwarted and 
they would have to seek a more easily 
influenced subject. It is possible that no 
Mediumx has yet really seen a spirit, or 
heard them speak, although they truly 
describe and repeat what they think they 
see and hear. When a spirit wishes to 
make its presence known, in order to 
prove its identity, it must present the 
same appearance to the seer as he had 
when in this life. Suppose, for instance, 
an old veteran who had lost a limb and 
received a severe wound on his face, 
wished to have an interview with a young 
friend still on earth; he would have to 
appear lame and with the mark left by 
the wound on his face, in order to be 
recognized; but it is to be hoped that he 
is not doomed to hobble through eternity 
on one leg and with a disfiguring scar 
upon his face. This class of manifesta- 
tions are probably produced by the spirit 



97 



hypnotising the medium and thus pro- 
ducing the required impression on his or 
her brain. 

Some believers in Spiritualism, in the 
writer's opinion, do not properly appre- 
ciate the value of their knowledge — they 
do not treat their invisible friends with 
as much courtesy as they do their every- 
day acquaintances in the body. They 
don't seem to think that time is of any 
valueto their guardian angels, and are not 
punctual in keeping their appointments 
to meet them at circles or at sittings for 
development. They are frequently rude 
to controls that do not come up to their 
ideas of advancement, and call poor ig- 
norant spirits, wicked spirits, and order 
them to be gone, without any regard to 
the feelings of the spirit. This is wrong, 
for it shows a very poor example to the 
spirit, and possibly the spirits might re- 
taliate on persons who do not treat them 
with even common politeness. These 
ignorant spirits may be brought to the 
circle by the higher powers for the good 



98 



purpose of enlightening them, and 
perhaps, also, to teach the sitters not to 
suppose that all the spirits that visit their 
circle must of necessity be of a very high 
class. But these are little angularities 
which will wear away when the people 
get more enlightened. 

Spiritualism, although obscured by ig- 
norance and worldliness, is doing a great 
work in breaking up old creeds and errors 
and throwing open the hitherto veiled 
mysteries of life and death. In this it 
deserves the name of being the Harbinger 
of the coming Dispensation ! — the dispen- 
sation of FREE THOUGHT. 



99 



ESSAY No. XV, 
THE COMING DISPENSATION. 

There seems to be an inborn hope in 
civiHzed man all over the earth that a 
better state of things will ultimately pre- 
vail in the world. There is certainly room 
for great improvement ; but it is very un- 
likely that life on earth will ever become 
so pure and happy as to be a serious comr- 
petitor with the joys of heaven. This hfe, 
as long as civilization lasts, must be a life 
of toil, and more or less discomfort to the 
bulk of the people. Even if wickedness 
and crime were done away with, toil and 
privation and division of the people into 
separate classes would still remain. This 
is necessary in order to produce the sim- 
plest of the comforts we enjoy. Thus, t^ 
produce our clothing, cotton has to be 
cultivated and after it is grown it has to 
be spun and woven into various fabrics. 
In order to do the spinning and weaving 
machinery is required. The machinery 



LofC. 



lOO 

is largely composed of iron; in order to 
obtain the iron, iron mines and coal 
mines and iron works are necessary. The 
strong, able-bodied men who perform 
this heavy kind of work form one class. 
Next above them come the mechanics 
and tradesmen of different kinds, whose 
work is still hard, but they have to use 
their brains to a greater extent than the 
mere laborers. And so on through the 
different grades until we come to the 
scientists and artists, who work nearly 
entirely with their brains and very little 
with the remainder of their bodies. It 
seems as if each individual was endowed 
with a certain limited amount of vital en- 
ergy. If a mian's body is developed to 
enable him to do hard work day after 
day, and year after year, his mental fac- 
ulties cannot be very highly cultivated. 
Oil the other hand, if a man's mental 
faculties are highly cultivated his body 
will be comparatively weak. A highly ed- 
ucated genius would be of no use for 
working in a coal or iron mine, and 



lOl 

would not be able to earn a living in an 
iron-works. On the principle of like at- 
tracting like, the different classes of 
workers must form different classes so- 
cially also. The hard worker would not 
enjoy the society of the scientists — their 
conversation would be as an unknown 
tongue to him, and the scientist would 
not enjoy the company of the uncultured 
working man, except perhaps occasion- 
ally, when he wanted a study in hum.an 
nature. But these ''upper classes" have 
no right to look down upon, or despise 
the lower classes, fbi* they are altogether 
dependent on them. They should remem- 
ber the old tale of the Organist, who one 
day on leaving the church was addressed 
by the man who worked the bellows of 
the organ, who said "Inat was some 
mighty fine music we made to-day." ''We 
made," repHed the Organist, supercilious- 
ly. "I should like to know what you had 
to do with making the music." The bel- 
lows-blower made no reply but the next 
day when the Organist was prepared to 



I02 

charm the congregation with an extra 
fine voluntary, the organ was silent when 
he pressed the keys — the bellows-blower 
had gone home — and then the Organist 
realized what an important part the bel- 
lows-man had in the production of the 
music. The humble working man may 
be quite as moral, good and virtuous as 
the highest genius in the land, and is en- 
titled to the greatest amount of happiness 
that he can enjoy. He is the foundation 
on which the others rest. Out of the same 
lump of clay the Potter can fashion dif- 
ferent vessels — ^but they are all useful. 

The life of the hciman race may be lik- 
ened to the life of the individual. First, 
babyhood — the period of comiplete igno- 
rance. Second, childhood — the period of 
false teaching (green cheese, etc.). Third, 
boyhood — the period of thoughtlessness, 
carelessness, selfishness, ''fun" and the 
sowing of "wild oats," and Fourth, man- 
hood — ^the period for throwing of? boy- 
ish folHes, and acting independently. The 
Pre-Mosaic time may be taken to repre- 



I03 

sent the infancy of mankind — the Mosaic 
dispensation the period of childhood— 
and the Chirstian dispensation the period 
of boyhood, from which we are just em- 
erging — the Fourth, or coming dispensa- 
tion, is the period of manhood, FREE 
THOUGHT, and personal responsibih- 
ty. Of course, the young man, for want 
of experience, may make some mistakes, 
but ultimately he will reach maturity. It 
is here that the much despised modern 
spirituaHsm will prove its value to man- 
kind. It has not come to the rich and 
powerful exclusively; but to the poor and 
lowly, and it is spreading through all 
classes and quietly -undermining old false 
ideas, and is destined to be the light of 
the world, when properly understood and 
realized! That the old ideas are losing 
their hold on the people is evident from 
such facts as one Presbyterian Minister 
publicly renouncing the doctrine of pre- 
destination, and another Minister advo- 
cating such things as playing golf, and 
going to a theatre on Sunday, and other 



I04 

Ministers admitting that their creeds 
need revising. Again, the wickedness, 
misery and crime that is rampant all over 
tl:e civilized world, and due to ages oi 
false teaching, is proof that a great 
change is needed. If a great and hofy 
Teacher was to rise to point out the 
right way he could accomplish nothing 
of importance to the world— he would be 
considered a mere ''crank" and if he 
taught in the streets, the police would 
order him to move on, and if the crowd 
of listeners w^as so great as to impede the 
traffic, he would be arrested, and punished, 
The truth will have to be developed in 
each one of the people so that all may 
recognize it without being told by any in- 
dividual, or class of people, to know the 
Lord, for all shall know Him from the 
least to the greatest All men, like sheep, 
have gone astray; b-ut there have been so. 
many false shepherds tha.t- the people 
have no longer any confidence in shep- 
herds, and object to be driven. Spiritual- 
ism has already accomplished a great 



I05 

deal ill upsetting such ideas as vicarious 
atonement, being saved by faith, being 
washed white in lamb's blood, be- 
ing changed in an instant from a regu- 
lar devil into an angel of light, and such- 
like absurdities. Selfishness appears to 
be the ruling characteristic of mankind at 
the present time, and possibly a refined 
selfishness may be the means of redeem- 
ing him from sin and misery. The search 
for happiness must start from the centre 
— from the individual himself. If each 
individual was convinced through self- 
communion and aided and strengthened 
by communion with his spirit friends that 
the surest way to gain success and happi- 
ness both here and hereafter, was to do 
rightly on all occasions — ^that every good 
act would be suitably rewarded and every 
bad act justly punished — that he had to 
work out his own salvation — then self- 
interest would prompt him to do that 
which is right on all occasions. When 
everyone practices this kind of refined 
selfishness, the time will have come when 



io6 

the spears may be converted into pruning 
hooks and the swords into plough shares. 
It will be some time before this state 
of things will be realized; but in the mean 
time Spiritualism can do a great deal by 
improving the cond-uct of the individual. 
The so-called religious people are in the 
habit of saying that the all-seeing eye of 
God is always on them, and that He sees 
their every thought and action — but that 
they do not believe it is evident, or their 
actions would be different. They have 
more respect for the opinion of their fel- 
low creatures. Thus, a woman will keep 
her front porch and windows, and hall 
and reception room clean and tidy, and 
will meet her visitors with a smiling face 
in order to prevent "Mrs. Grundy'' mak- 
ing unpleasant remarks. At the same 
time the remainder of her house may be 
far from being tidy, and she may neglect 
her children and not attend to her hus- 
band's comforts. Now, how different 
would be her conduct if she was thor- 
oughly convinced that there were per- 



I07 

haps a dozen or more Mrs. Grundies 
present, laughing and sneering, and pick- 
ing her to pieces all the time. Again, 
there are some men who will present the 
pink of neatness when from home, and 
speak to everyone they meet in a gentle- 
manly manner, in order to win the good 
opinion of Brown, Jones and Robinson; 
but at home they are slovenly in their hab- 
its, and they will curse and swear at their 
wives and abuse their children. If they 
knew that there was a crowd of Browns, 
Joneses and Robinsons present all the 
time, would they not mend their man- 
ners?— thus the knowledge of the con- 
stant presence of a class of spirits, or an- 
gels, not a great deal more advanced 
than ourselves, would have a greater in- 
fluence in regulating our conduct than 
the profession of belief in the all-seeing 
eye of the Almighty beholding our ac- 
tions. 

There are many other ways in which 
the knowledge of spirit presence and 
communion will be of the greatest im- 



io8 

portance and benefit to mankind. Thus, 
it will break up superstition of all kinds, 
teach people to think for themselves, and 
search for the facts of nature and science. 
It will be a comfort to the lonely wan- 
derer through this life to know that he 
has got friends who, although invisible, 
are doing their best to help, guide and 
protect him. In the hour of death it will 
be a great comfort to know that we shall 
not be relentlessly and unjustly and ever- 
lastingly tormented for mistakes and er- 
rors commitHed? in this life — ^that we 
shall have an opportunity of working out 
our own salvation — and that lovmg 
friends will meet us and instruct us in 
the new life on which we are about to 
enter — that we have something more to 
look forward to than the shadowy and re- 
mote chance of being squeezed in Abra- 
ham's bosom or embraced in the arms of 
Jesus. 

In these essays the writer has endeav- 
ored not to positively assert anything, 
except such self-evident facts as admit 



I09 

of no difference of opinion, in all else the 
reader is invited to use his own reason- 
ing faculties and think out the various- 
matters alluded to for himself. Neither 
does he claim that any of the ideas are 
new, but being presented in a new form 
he hopes they may be the means of 
bringing light and comfort to some of 
his fellow creatures. 

"When the wicked man turneth away 
''from the wickedness he hath committed, 
"and doeth that which is lawful and right, 
''he shall save his soul alive." 

''He hath shewed thee, O man, what is 
"good; and what doth the Lord require 
"of thee, but to do justly; and to love 
"mercy and to walk humbly with thv 
"God." 



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